Integration of Coastal Geomorphology, Mythology, and Archaeological Evidence at Kualoa Beach, Windward O‘ahu, Hawaiian Islands

Abstract

Coastal geomorphology, mythic traditions, and archaeological evidence are integrated for a case study at Kualoa Beach in windward O'ahu, Hawaiian Islands. The creation of coastal landforms and the effects of high-sea events appear to be encoded in the language of myth and folklore. Archaeological deposits can be understood in relation to several natural and cultural processes of deposition, disturbance, and erosion over an uninterrupted sequence spanning at least six centuries. Earliest site use is documented at cal AD 1040 to 1280, placing it among the earliest securely dated occupations in Hawai'i. This occupation, represented by a firepit dense with midden, is located in a beachfront setting that was then but a tiny nub of what was eventually to become an elongated peninsula due to progradation of the landform by natural processes in later prehistoric, historic, and modern times. Progradation resulted in infilling of stranded ponds and exposure of the landform to new and changing conditions of deposition and erosion. Coastal transformation may be represented in tales of the goddess Hi'iaka creating coastal lowlands with the broken body of a slain dragon-like creature. The same mythic traditions may be metaphoric for overthrow of an older lineage or sociopolitical group. Other legends and traditions mention periodic high-sea events as major factors in landscape change.

Geohazards and myths: ancient memories of rapid coastal change in the Asia-Pacific region and their value to future adaptation

“…On Easter Island (southeast Pacific Ocean), the god named Uoke is said to have to prised pieces off the volcanic cliffs with a giant crowbar until it broke on the hard rocks at Puko Puhipuhi [48]. Hawaiian myths tell of a goddess named Hi'iaka dismembering the body of a dragon-like creature to create coastal lowlands on O'ahu Island, a story that has been reconciled with geoarchaeological evidence [49].…”

Paleotsunami evidence on Kaua‘i and numerical modeling of a great Aleutian tsunami

“…There is scant evidence in the literature for more recent Holocene tsunamis, apart from depositional evidence from recent large tsunamis during the past century (e.g., 1946 and 1957). There is an archaeological and legendary reference to a tsunami at Kualoa Beach in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, subsequent to its occupation by the Hawaiian people in circa 1040-1280 A.D. (see supporting information: Legendary Hawaiian References) [Carson and Athens, 2007;Handy and Handy, 1972]. A chant attributed to Huluamana and composed in the sixteenth century describes a tsunami-like event on the west coast of Molokai [Lander and Lockridge, 1989] Correspondence to: R. Butler, rgb@hawaii.edu Limahuli Bog on northwestern Kaua'i, Burney [2002] reports evidence suggesting a prior large tsunami event, "The wedge of sand about 50 cm below the surface along the northern edge of the bog is similar to the surficial material derived from the 1946 tsunami and perhaps represents a similar late prehistoric event such as the one Burney et al [2001] recorded about 400 years B.P.…”

Mapping Local Perspectives in the Historical Archaeology of Vanuatu Mission Landscapes

“…The research results when using both kinds of evidence were much more enlightening than using either kind of source exclusively. This observation can be equally true for studies of the deeper past, as oral traditions can yield surprising insights stretching back over centuries or even millennia (Carson and Athens 2007;Collerson and Weisler 2007;Echo-Hawk 2000;Whitridge 2004).…”

“…The oral traditions of Pacific Islanders have been alternately embraced and treated with skepticism by Pacific archaeologists (e.g., Dye 1989). In the twenty-first century, the pendulum appears to be swinging back toward the widespread use of native traditions in archaeology as part of an ongoing multivocal turn in the discipline ( David et al 2012), and because of the recognition that indigenous oral traditions and mythology provide valuable data that can be used alongside archaeological findings in order to understand the Pacific past (Carson and Athens 2007;Kirch 2010). In Vanuatu, some of the most significant pioneering fieldwork in archaeology stemmed from the archaeology of oral traditions, notably relating to the locally famous chief Roi Mata and the fifteenth-century eruption of Kuwae volcano in the central part of the archipelago (Garanger 1972(Garanger , 1996.…”

“…Oral traditions, ethnographic observations, archaeological remains, and written documents alongside ecological, geological, and climatological data all represent valid material for this pursuit; approaches that integrate many of these perspectives often provide the most insightful discoveries (e.g., Carson and Athens 2007;Hayden 2011;Lape 2002). Where archaeologists work as close collaborators and partners with local communities, and as control over the archaeological process is increasingly relinquished to those communities (Marshall 2002), there has been an effort to integrate documentary evidence, material remains, and oral histories, as well as other types of data, without privileging one line of evidence over the others ( Beck and Somerville 2005;David et al 2012;McNiven and Russell 2005 : 242-248;Stewart et al 2004).…”